'Little Mermaid' Sings Again

"Wanderin' free, wish I could be part of that world," sang Jodi Benson, the voice of Disney's animated mermaid Ariel during a surprise performance for Thursday's (Sept. 7) opening night of "The Little Mermaid's" limited engagement run at the El Capitan Theatre.

The Broadway musical star joined "Mermaid" writer/directors John Musker and Ron Clements, Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken, supervising animator Glen Keane, Disney animation producer Don Hahn and actress Sherri Stoner for the theatrical debut of the newly digitized and remastered 1989 film. A panel with the filmmakers kicked off the evening, followed by Benson's performance.

While a rapt audience listened, Benson's familiar soaring vocals gave no hint of her emotional state.

"It's really crazy and I'm trying not to cry," Benson told Zap2it.com backstage before the performance. "I've already cried twice, and now I'm done for the night. I've got to pull it together. It's not a good thing to start the evening off crying."

Benson hoped her performance, accompanied by Menken on piano, would be able to express how grateful she is to the fans and filmmakers.

"Tonight is a celebration," she said. "For me, it's a real opportunity to say, 'Thank you' -- to thank the people who have supported this movie and to thank the team that made this movie happen because this movie has changed my life and my family's life. I mean, every single thing that I've done [since then] has been because of this."

Benson is particularly sentimental about the absence of the late Howard Ashman, the film's producer and collaborating composer on the film, who died shortly before "Mermaid's" follow-up, "Beauty and the Beast" was released.

"It's been 20 years and so much has happened," said Benson. "Every time I start to see a picture of Howard Ashman and hear about him, it just kind of kills me ... He's with us, but not here physically to be able to see what he started because he really is the prime force in this project. He really is. He's the heart and soul of this project. It's very bittersweet."

Benson provided the speaking and singing voice for Ariel in 1989's "The Little Mermaid," an animated adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen tale about a mermaid who falls in love with a human prince on land and sacrifices everything to be with him. The Disney version provided a much happier conclusion to what Clements calls the original's "downer ending" in which the mermaid dies of unrequited love.

The night's discussion panel allowed the filmmakers to reminisce about working in the Glendale, Calif., offices and also sneak preview some clips that will be seen on the upcoming special 2-Disc Platinum Edition DVD. One clip showed Ashman coaching Benson how to read a line, while two other clips featured Stoner, the live-action model for Ariel, providing the mermaid's movements and expressions for Keane to reference.

Earlier backstage, Benson added that she was also looking forward to the least taxing, but no less emotional part of the evening -- the screening.

"My children have both seen the movie but they've never seen it on a big screen," she said. "So this is the first time for them tonight. I'm especially excited to get to share it with them."

The audience was just as thrilled to revisit their memories on the big screen judging by the sound of cheers and young voices singing along. Directly following the screening was "The Lion King" director Roger Allers' short film based on another Andersen fairytale, "The Little Match Girl," set in pre-revolutionary Russia to Alexander Borodin's melancholy "String Quartet No. 2 in D Major."

"The Little Mermaid" will run exclusively at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood through Sept. 24th, ending a week before the special edition DVD debut on Oct. 3.